Friday, January 11, 2013

Thieves broke a window of one of the station’s news vans in West Oakland yesterday and made off with $20,000 worth of electronic equipment. The news crew had left the van while covering the unveiling of a mural to honor the city’s young homicide victims. (Here’s KTVU 2’s coverage of that story.)

It’s at least the ninth reported such crime involving reporters or photographers in Oakland since last year. Some TV stations have begun sending armed security with news personnel covering Oakland, but, apparently, KTVU 2—whose studios are near Jack London Square—isn’t among them.

Kristen Bender of the Merc’s Oakland Tribune edition says that a man accused of snatching a camera from another TV crew outside Oakland Tech High School last November was arrested, but got out on bail and hasn’t been seen since.